Anaheim Loses Its Bid for Prime Arena Parcel : Supervisors Kill Plans to Sell County Land Still Under Consideration as Site for New Jail

In a stunning blow to Anaheim officials, the Orange County of Board of Supervisors scuttled plans Tuesday to sell a proposed jail site on which the city had sought to build a 21,000-seat, $85-million sports arena.

“The deal is dead,” announced a disappointed Supervisor Don R. Roth, one of the biggest boosters of Anaheim’s bid to purchase the county-owned, 7.6-acre parcel at Katella Avenue and Douglass Road.

While the plan had the support of Roth and Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley, the other three supervisors opposed it. Because of the county’s critical need to construct a new jail to relieve severe inmate overcrowding at existing facilities, Supervisors Roger R. Stanton, Harriett M. Wieder and Gaddi H. Vasquez said it would be a mistake at this point to sell any potential jail site, including the vacant Katella-Douglass property.

After gathering in a session that was closed to the public following Tuesday’s regular meeting, Riley said the board reached a “consensus” not to sell any county parcel under consideration for a possible jail until a permanent site is selected. Though no formal vote was taken, the board’s position effectively dashes Anaheim’s hopes of building an arena to attract a professional hockey or basketball franchise on the Katella-Douglass property. It takes four votes by the board to sell county property.

“We are bitterly disappointed,” said Anaheim City Manager Bob Simpson, who described the Katella-Douglass site the “best choice” for an arena.

Discuss Options

Upon learning of the supervisors’ decision, the Anaheim City Council went into its own closed session at the end of Tuesday’s regular meeting to discuss options. The session ended with no formal action being taken by the council. But Jim Ruth, Anaheim’s assistant city manager and lead negotiator on the arena, emerged from the meeting and said the city was abandoning its pursuit of the Katella-Douglass property, the cornerstone of its 3-year campaign to bring another professional sports franchise to Orange County.

“We’re not going to make any effort to resurrect that jail site,” Ruth said.

The city, Ruth said, is considering at least two other parcels for an arena in the same area. The preferred choice, he said, is a privately owned, 12-acre plot on the northeast corner of Katella and State College Boulevard--not far from the jail site. The other possible site is a smaller 7-acre parcel about a block north of Katella on Douglass. It, too, is privately owned.

While Anaheim officials scrambled to salvage their arena plans, officials in neighboring Santa Ana, which last week revived its own long-held plans to build a similar sports facility, were optimistic about the impact of the supervisors’ action on their proposal. Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said it gives his city the advantage in the testy two-city race to be the first to construct a 20,000-plus seat arena in the heart of the county.

Santa Ana’s arena would be built on 17 acres at Edinger Avenue and Lyon Street, near Century High School in an industrial and business park owned by the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp. Unlike the Anaheim plans, those to build an arena in Santa Ana are still conceptual, with no financing or ownership group yet lined up. As a result, Young considers Anaheim’s setback as a plus for his city’s arena push.

Boost for Santa Ana

“This is a tremendous boost for us,” Young said in referring to the supervisors’ decision not to sell the Katella-Douglass property. “This clears away any imminent danger of competition. It’s really now up to Santa Fe to put together the final package. But this certainly gives them some breathing room. Now we don’t have to rush as much.”

At the heart of the controversy surrounding the Katella-Douglass property is the county’s continuing search for an acceptable site to build a new jail. It is one three proposals by the county to relieve overcrowded jails over the next 20 years. The others include the expansion of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange and a 6,000-bed jail planned for Gypsum Canyon. There has also been some discussion about expanding the 1,400-prisoner James A. Musick Branch Jail, which is just outside the Irvine city limits.

Because of its prime location several blocks from Anaheim Stadium and next to the Orange Freeway, the Katella-Douglass property is among the most valuable parcels in the county’s real estate portfolio. Real estate in the area is selling for as much as $750,000 to $1 million an acre, and for that reason, Supervisor Roth favored selling the property rather than developing a 10-story jail that would house 1,500 inmates.

“That would be like the city of Beverly Hills building the city jail on Rodeo Drive,” said Roth, a former Anaheim mayor. “It just doesn’t make economic sense to put inmates on a piece of land that valuable.”

Moreover, Roth said, special legislation signed into law by Gov. Deukmejian in 1986 prevents the county from using any state bond money to build a jail on the Katella-Douglass site. That means the county would have to finance the $950-million project on its own.

Uncertainty Over Site

But Supervisor Vasquez said the county can not afford to reduce its jail options because of continuing uncertainity over where a new facility will be built.

“It is imperative to preserve all options so we are not backed into a position of the federal court stepping in and making a decision for us (on a jail site),” said Vasquez, whose district includes Gypsum Canyon, just south of the Riverside Freeway and east of Anaheim Hills. Both Gypsum Canyon and Katella-Douglass have been highly controversial, spawning lawsuits, intense local opposition and dividing the supervisors.

Lacking the votes to keep the proposal alive, Roth decided after the board’s executive session not to seek a vote at today’s supervisor’s meeting to drop the jail site designation from the Katella-Douglass property. That action would have cleared the way for the board to officially consider the sale of the parcel to Anaheim.

Supervisor Wieder blamed Anaheim, in part, for the deal’s collapse. She criticized the city for making an offer on a parcel of county land that had been set aside for another use.

“How could the city of Anaheim talk about buying a piece of property with a clouded title?” Wieder said. “It was like putting a gun to our backs and saying, ‘Undeclare it so we can buy--or else.’ That’s no way to do business.”

Wieder and Vasquez said that even if a jail is not built at Katella-Douglass, the county should consider leasing that site rather than selling it. Wieder said a May 10 report from the county auditor recommends leasing county property as way to generate revenue and build equity for its real estate holdings.

In Anaheim, Ruth said he will present a report about the city’s arena options to the council June 6.

Of the two alternative sites under consideration, Ruth said the 12 acres at the corner of State College and Katella is the preferred parcel. Community Bank owns 7 acres; Kiewet Realty of Anaheim owns the other 5.

The second site under consideration is just a block north of Katella along Douglass Road. That 7-acre parcel is owned by the Phoenix Club, a 3,000-member German Club that meets about four days a week.

“Obviously they do not want to move,” Ruth said of the club. “The catch is to find them another site.”

Ruth added that club officials are willing to sell the parcel, however, if another site could be found. The city has proposed three alternate locations to the club. But Ruth declined to put a price tag on the club’s property.

Arena parking remains the overriding concern for either the Community Bank or Phoenix Club properties, Ruth said. County negotiators told him they would be still be willing to lease a nearby 17-acre vacant lot along the Santa Ana River for parking if the Phoenix Club site is chosen.

The Community Bank site, valued at $1 million an acre, would require shared parking with Anaheim Stadium for an estimated 20% of the proposed arena events, Ruth said.

That may pose some problems, he added.

The one advantage of the bank site is that the land is for sale and could be bought immediately, Ruth said.